Downtown Oak Park gearing up for Uncork Illinois wine festival

Wine fest to showcase flavors of Illinois vintners

A new Oak Park festival will allow guests to tour the state's wineries without leaving town.

The Downtown Oak Park business association is hosting Uncork Illinois from 1-9 p.m. this Saturday, June 2, on Marion Street between Lake Street and North Blvd., where a dozen eateries will be paired with 13 wineries from across the state. The event will not only provide tips on how to combine that vino with the perfect meal, it will showcase the diversity of vineyards that Illinois offers.

"We felt like we had a gap. We thought it would be fun to kick start summer with an event," said Pat Zubak, executive director of DTOP, who said discussions about the concept have been in the works for years. Once the popularity of beer festivals in the area took off, they knew it was time to bring wine lovers their own event.

After getting merchant requests and researching the logistics of serving, pairing and connecting wineries and restaurants, Zubak and her team got working — including intern Kristina Conrady, who took over the event.

The first task was determining how far to recruit for the event, but in the spirit of promoting neighbors it was decided to stay within the state's borders.

"I had no idea how many wineries there were across Illinois," Zubak said. "We thought it was a good fit for our community's appreciation for local food. We thought it would be kind of nice to encourage drinking locally, as well as eating locally."

Also at the event will be locally-based food producers to accompany the theme, which will be located next to a kiosk area where people can pick out their favorite bottles of wine in a one-stop-shopping area following a tour through the event.

The June 2 date is ideal timing since it coincides with the same weekend of the annual Frank Lloyd Wright housewalk tour. Zubak said she thinks the few thousand estimated guests for that event are the similar type of people who'd appreciate the wine festival.

"I think when Visit Oak Park did their study…it was very comprehensive," Zubak said. "They realized that the visitor coming into see Wright is like the typical Oak Parker."

Conrady thinks the event will be an excellent way to promote local eateries as well as Illinois at the same time.

"The festival is dedicated to our state," she said. "Going local always has big draw. It was kind of a focal point that we promoted the event."

She said the event will serve multiple purposes as it exposes Oak Parkers and visitors to nearby wineries, promotes local businesses, and connects wineries to the Chicagoland market.

Besides watching her plans unfold, Conrady said she is ready to see how the businesses react to the festivities.

"It's going to be a huge draw them for them," she said. "I think they are going to be pleased with the turnout."

Admission to the fest is $15 at the gate and includes a free souvenir glass and seven tastings (while supplies last). Additional tasting tickets may be purchased for $1. In addition to tastings, vineyards will sell wines by the glass or bottle.

Proceeds benefited the Wonder Works Children's Museum. Do we know how much money was raised? I saw OPPD personnel at the event but apparently not for the purpose of assisting with traffic control around the area. Too bad. Anyone who was around the Lake and Marion intersection experienced a real bottleneck. What is the police department policy regarding assigning an officer to direct traffic?

Ray Johnson from Oak Park, Illinois Facebook Verified

Posted: June 3rd, 2012 11:00 AM

Excellent event yesterday. Kudos to DTOP!

Sarcastic Mann Parent

Posted: May 30th, 2012 2:16 PM

Yep, along with the FLW walk on Saturday, this is just another of the toddler-centric events for the pro-tax crowd in the monoculture bemoaned elsewhere here. Yep, every event in Oak Park is directed solely at straight families with small children.

X-pensive Wino from Scoville Park

Posted: May 30th, 2012 2:05 PM

All right !! Bring on the Boone's Farm and the Bartles & Jaymes.

Facebook Connect

Please Enable JavaScriptFor All Site Features.

Answer Book 2016

To view the full print edition of the Wednesday Journal 2016 Answer Book, please click here.